Salaried Employees & Overtime

6380514

We do not pay salaried employees overtime as a rule.  Does anyone have this worded well for their handbook?  I need to incorporate something into ours, and haven't found what I'm looking for on the site.  I want it to basically say that salaried employees may have to put in extra hours to accomplish their duties, but that only special/out-of-the-ordinary situations would warrant overtime pay.  Got that worded nicely, legally, and politically correct?

 

Thanks!

TXHRGuy

[quote user="6380514"]We do not pay salaried employees overtime as a rule.  Does anyone have this worded well for their handbook?  I need to incorporate something into ours, and haven't found what I'm looking for on the site.  I want it to basically say that salaried employees may have to put in extra hours to accomplish their duties, but that only special/out-of-the-ordinary situations would warrant overtime pay.  Got that worded nicely, legally, and politically correct?

Thanks![/quote]

Employees paid on a salary basis are exempt from the overtime and minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.  Therefore, employees paid on a salary basis will not be paid overtime for time over 40 hours worked in any week.  This policy does not mean that the Company cannot or will not pay bonuses for exemplary performance requiring long hours but such bonuses for salaried employees are entirely at the discretion of the Company and will be based on any of a variety of performance factors and not hours worked.

The language will need to be different if you use any form of salary-like pay for non-exempt employees, especially if use use the word "salary" in discussing their compensation plan.

6380514

Thanks, TXHRGuy!  That's the type of thing I was looking for. 

 

TXHRGuy

Glad to help :-)

cb499

A similar question with a different twist...what if 95% of our staff are salaried, exempt yet occasionally we pay one of them overtime? Never everyone and never consistently? Is this a problem? We're a govt. contractor and there are times that the project requires an extra push, extra hours and the cost is covered, but this only applies to those on contracts, not on overhead.

 

TXHRGuy

[quote user="cb499"]

A similar question with a different twist...what if 95% of our staff are salaried, exempt yet occasionally we pay one of them overtime? Never everyone and never consistently? Is this a problem? We're a govt. contractor and there are times that the project requires an extra push, extra hours and the cost is covered, but this only applies to those on contracts, not on overhead.

[/quote]

Personaly, I don't ever like to pay salary people straight dollars for time.

I back door it by estimating time to completion and offering a bonus for getting it done by that time.  I'm also big on fostering a culture that values elbow grease.  I'm usually thinking exit strategy when a salaried exempt individual says, "wow, that's a lot of work.  I need some money to stick around long enough to get that done."

IT HR

I agree with TX.  Paying a salaried person "overtime" can lead to questions like, "Why don't I get overtime every time I work extra hours on a project?"  If you feel that someone has gone above and beyond the call of duty to help your organization then give them a bonus. This way you can say it is for just that - a bonus for a job well done and going the extra mile to help the organization do X (fill in the blank - win a contract, get a deal, complete a project on time and under budget, etc.)

cb499

My apologies for the late response. Somehow my account was restricted, then time got away from me.

 I appreciate all feedback and will incorporate your suggestions in a proposed policy revision.